ANNUAL MANGONUI WATERFRONT FESTIVAL

Held on a Saturday in autumn

When: Likely to be Saturday 30 March 2019.

Time: 12.00 noon to 6.00 pm

Where: Waterfront Drive, Mangonui, Doubtless
Bay, Far North

Entrance fee: t.b.a

Just a reminder to everyone that as per normal festival regulations, no alcohol is allowed to be brought into the area
from outside. Obviously there will be a number of licensed stalls selling beers and wines on the day as well as the
local stores inside the festival. Thanks everyone.

About the Mangonui Waterfront Festival

Mangonui's annual Waterfront Festival is billed as a farewell to
summer, the last chance to enjoy a long afternoon and evening before
the end of daylight saving,

The road frontage is closed to traffic for the duration of the event.
Crowds of around 5,000 are expected; with the 2012 to 2017 festivals
having been unqualified successes.

A celebration and showcase for everything good about the Far North, from wine and food to music and art
with stalls stretching from just north of
the Old Oak Boutique Hotel to the wharf. They offer everything from
wine and food (including dishes from Thailand, South Africa, Mexico
and New Zealand) to bromeliads and honey, condiments, massage, nail painting and garden art.

For the more active, there is the chance to flex some muscles in
tug-o-war and tennis - while on the water there is paddle board
and sailing.

Images of the 2018 Festival courtesy of Claire@FlashGordon Photography.

Community spirit alive at Mangonui Festival

Article by Stewart Russell for 29 March 2018 Northland Age.

After months of painstaking planning, the financial success or otherwise of the Harcourts Mangonui Waterfront Festival was in the hands of the weather gods. For the first time in seven years, they decided to conspire against us and made for a very wet afternoon.

Fortunately, the people of the Far North are a resilient bunch, and although numbers were down on previous years, over 2,500 people flooded (with the rain) into Waterfront Drive that day and, from the feedback received so far, most had a fantastic day.

The key purpose of the event is to celebrate produce, arts and entertainment of the Far North. But it was also about our local economy receiving a welcome boost before the winter sets in.

This year we added a third stage - the Be Free Youth stage. It was fantastic to showcase the up and coming talent of the Far North and the quality of the performers who turned up for the open mic session was amazing.

We also moved the main stage to next to the Mangonui Hotel. Kurfew rocked the main stage so hard that a few bottles from the adjacent bottle store literally danced off of the shelves!

I understand that the local accommodation providers were all busy and many were full. Over a quarter of the festival goers were from outside the Far North District, with many from overseas.

As well as a significant boost to the economy, it is worth remembering that this money is now recycling within our local economy.

We start planning the 2019 Festival now. Fortunately, with the support of our main sponsors, Harcourts Bay of Islands, Pub Charity and everyone who turned up on the day, it looks like we will cover the operating costs, which are in the region of $40,000. The main costs included event management, security, facilities, advertising, sound, staging and paying the bands and other entertainers. The event is not intended to make a profit. If there is surplus cash after paying all the various costs including the planning costs for the 2019 festival, the organizing committee will make donations to local charities.

An extra special thank you to Brotty and the team at Mangonui Haulage who came to our rescue to put some metal on the exits from the car parks to help some of the vehicles, which would otherwise have been stranded. It was the perfect example of how a small community pulls together, something I don’t think you would have seen in the larger centres.

The festival shows what we can achieve when we come together as a community and a group of businesses. The committee put in hundreds of hours planning and organising the event - particularly in the last few stressful weeks. I personally would like to thank my fellow committee members Rick Palmer, Margaret Aydon, Anna Jacobs, Lynette Wilson, Jan Ferguson, Richard Catterall, Danny Simms, Barbara Pengelly, Ian Ivey and Eddie Aickin. I would also like to thank our event organiser, Jodi Betts of Somersault Event Management, without whom the Festival simply would not happen.

We are always looking at ways to improve the Festival further and would welcome feedback as to how we can take the Festival forward. If you have any suggestions for improvements and would like to be involved, please contact one of the committee members mentioned above, myself or Jodi Betts.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who attended the festival. You are the ones who give the event that fantastic atmosphere which reflects the spirit of the Far North. Watching everyone enjoying themselves, singing and dancing in the rain made for a very special afternoon in Mangonui and one that we as a firm are proud to be involved in.

Save the date – next year’s Festival is likely to be on Saturday 30th March 2019.